Hear about a plan to turn the air-conditioners of the world into a network of carbon-sucking fuel producers. Learn about a new licencing system for open-source seeds. Get the low down on who really lives in “tiny houses” and why.By ABC Radio National.

Artificial intelligence is now even entering the classroom - where does this take us? Also, Wikipedia’s role in the dissemination of news – a robust platform for fact? Or an invitation to constant revisionism?By ABC Radio National.

Analysts say that many countries and companies will soon be forced to make a decision between the Chinese version of the Internet and the liberal, Western model - both models have a very different underlaying philosophy and understanding of governance.By ABC Radio National.

Advances in technology and medicine have been so great in recent decades that some scientists now believe we’ve altered the nature of evolution for plants and animals. Some even claim that it’s effectively stopped in humans.By ABC Radio National.

Once the preserve of tech companies and government agencies, hackathons are now being employed in the community sector to quickly develop and test blue-sky ideas and create innovation in the social welfare world.By ABC Radio National.

Australia’s Royal Flying Doctor Service has been taken over by dummies (mannequins to be precise). It’s all part of the development of an immersive training facility to counter the tyrannies of distance.By ABC Radio National.

Critics say that the proliferation of modern, wafer-thin skyscrapers are symbols of rising urban inequality. Also: Are levels of density in our cities making us ill? And what's the impact of short-term letting on urban affordability?By ABC Radio National.

Voice-activated speakers are mostly being used to listen to music and check the weather. The Reuters Institute’s, Nic Newman, thinks that’s about to change. Also, have we just entered the “golden age” of podcasts?By ABC Radio National.

Luxembourg is just about to make its public transport free. The first country (albeit a small one) to do so. But do the promises of a cleaner, less congested urban environment really stack-up?By ABC Radio National.

An emphasis on merit is often seen as the answer to inequality. Some argue merit should be used to guide all forms of political, economic and social progress. But who determines what is meritorious? And is it possible to build a genuinely meritocratic state?By ABC Radio National.

Only about nine per cent of the ocean floor has been mapped using high-definition technology. But a new global initiative aims to change that. It’s called the Seabed 2030 Project. Also, how viable is seabed mining? And will climate change see the Arctic turned into a major shipping route?By ABC Radio National.

Google+ will soon be shut down. So why did the social network fail? And what does its demise tell us about social platforms in general? Also, understanding the real history of our current data privacy dilemma; and why the tech titans of today look a lot like the railway barons of old.By ABC Radio National.

Street artists are busy commandeering as many city surfaces as their paints will allow, authorities are trying to neutralise the threat, while advertising agencies are keen to clone the potency of hand painted art.By ABC Radio National.

It’s a golden time for Antarctic research, with more and more countries taking a direct interest in the great southern continent. But suspicions abound as to the real motivations of key Antarctic players.By ABC Radio National.

Are the systems we’ve developed to enhance our lives now impairing our ability to distinguish between reality and falsity? Can teaching of ethics and critical thinking help lead us out of the shadowlands?By ABC Radio National.

We hear about the EU-funded project Counting as a Human Being in the Era of Computational Law. We get up-to-date on a new data trust mark for Australian researchers. And we take you back to the Quayside 'Google' project in Toronto.By ABC Radio National.

More than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, but only around 2.5 percent is drinkable. In this episode we talk to various scientists engaged in making water out of thin air.By ABC Radio National.

What role has social media played in the rise of populist politics? Also, what responsibility should technology companies have in preventing the misuse of social media by political extremists?By ABC Radio National.

Smart phones have become an essential part of our lives. But are they so familiar, we sometimes underestimate their importance? The role they’ve played in helping to shape our interests and interactions?By ABC Radio National.

E-sports – competitive video gaming – is set to leave traditional performance sport in its wake. Whether to recognise e-sports as a real sport is not the main issue any more; the main challenge is to create working governance structures.By ABC Radio National.

How do you read? And how will you be reading in the future? Writers, journalists and publishers discuss the changing digital and literary world and how it could look in the years to come.By ABC Radio National.

It is time to put aside the novelty aspect of unmanned aerial vehicles and start designing domestic drones that are fit for purpose. But how do you regulate a technology that has so many different uses and such varying capacities?By ABC Radio National.

The world of classical music is changing. Some are predicting the demise of orchestral events. Others see opportunity in social media and a new sense of engagement between the audience and musicians.By ABC Radio National.

A massive data project is underway in Europe. It aims to create a kind of “Google map of the past” – making the minutia of history as accessible as today's social media. Also, the results of a study into geo-engineering and agriculture; and a new construction method for building bridges.By ABC Radio National.

Many countries now see great economic potential in space activity. Competition is increasing. Are we moving away from the notion that space is for all humankind? And is conflict in space inevitable?By ABC Radio National.

Forget the humans versus machine dichotomy. Our relationship with technology is far more complicated than that. To understand AI, first we need to appreciate the role humans play in shaping it.By ABC Radio National.

US research says e-health data is particularly vulnerable to attack. The theory of the Extended Mind – should our tools be classified as a part of cognition. And forget the Anthropocene, we’re entering the Synthetic Age.By ABC Radio National.

Let's look at the virtue of sharing: How could sharing shape our future, and what do we stand to lose if we refuse to share?By ABC Radio National.

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Fire was our first true piece of technology. Around its warming glow, we would tell stories, share our thoughts, and bond with the people we love. Centuries later, our fires have been digitized, and thrown into everyone's pocket. They are infinitely more powerful. This is a podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of technology and storytelling, from two writers connected by circuits, wires and a passion for writing.

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Enjoy the archives of this retired series featuring legendary technology columnist Walt Mossberg and The Verge’s editor-in-chief Nilay Patel. The series finale aired on June 13, 2017, shortly before Walt’s well-deserved retirement. For more on what’s happening now (and next) in technology and gadgets, listen and subscribe to The Vergecast.